Governor Bobby Jindal will serve as the speaker for the Paul M. Hebert Law Center 2008 Commencement exercises, Thursday, May 22, at 10:30 a.m. in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. Chancellor Jack M. Weiss will preside over the ceremony.
More than 200 students – from Alexandria, Louisiana, to Yantai, Shandong Province, China – will receive their degrees. Assisting in the conferring of degrees will be Chairman of the LSU Board of Supervisors Jerry E. Shea, Jr.
Guests to the commencement ceremony may enter through all portals – both ground and concourse levels.
Jindal was sworn in as governor of Louisiana on January 14, 2008. He was born in Baton Rouge in 1971 and graduated from Baton Rouge High School in 1987 before attending Brown University where he graduated with honors in biology and public policy. He then attended Oxford University in Oxford, England, as a Rhodes Scholar. In 1996, Jindal began his career in public service with an appointment as secretary of the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals.
He was appointed assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in 2001 by President George W. Bush and resigned in 2003, returning to Louisiana for a first-time run at elected office. Jindal was elected to the U.S. Congress in 2004 and re-elected in 2006.
Also speaking at the ceremony will be John N. Gallaspy, representing the LSU Law Golden Graduates, who are members of the Class of 1958. Gallaspy has practiced with Gallaspy and Paduda in Bogalusa, Louisiana. He served as president of the Student Bar Association while in law school.
Earlier in the day, at 9 a.m. in the Law Center’s McKernan Auditorium, ceremonies will be held to honor the 2008 student members of The Order of the Coif – a national honorary law fraternity. Each year, the local chapter elects to membership from the highest 10 percent of the senior class those students who are deemed qualified. The Louisiana chapter of The Order of the Coif was established in 1942. Its purpose is to stimulate scholarly work of the highest order and foster and promote a high standard of professional conduct.
Speaking as honorary member of The Order of the Coif will be the Honorable Ernestine Steward Gray, an alumna of the Law Center Class of 1976. She has served as a judge of the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court since 1984 and has received numerous awards for her community work, professional leadership and advocacy for court and services improvement for children.
